“Watching You” is a new mystery thriller by Lisa Jewell. The book starts with a murder in a town in England where the residents all seem to be watching each other. Joey and her husband, Alfie, have just moved in with her brother Jack and his wife Rebecca. They live in a cute neighborhood, two doors down from the Fitzwilliam’s, a husband and wife and their teenage son. Mr. Fitzwilliam, is the headmaster of a school, and it seems that everyone is infatuated with him, including Joey and some of the students at his school. His young wife, Nicola, seems to only care about him and running. Freddie, their son, is obsessed with watching everyone and everything going on in their neighborhood.

As the book progresses, we find many more of the residents watching each other, and trying to uncover what is going on in their small town. We know the police are interrogating some of the key players, but we don’t find out until close to the end who was murdered. It was pretty obvious to me who the murdered was when a key detail is given by them to another character. I just wasn’t sure which person they murdered which kept me interested and intrigued.

This is the first book I’ve read by Lisa Jewell, and definitely will read others by her. It was very well written, the chapters were not too long, and the pace was great. I like how it was told by multiple points of view which helped us to have a better understanding of the characters and what motivates them.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for providing me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a cute YA romance, and I can see this as a great book for anyone that believes in love at first sight. Maybe I’m skeptical, but I didn’t believe Natasha and Daniel could fall in love in a day. I didn't think that there was enough chemistry between the two of them, and honestly, I don't think Natasha would have even hung out with him on her last day in the country.

I listened to the audio and while I love Bahni Turpin as a narrator, I had issues with the third narrator telling stories of the other characters in the book. It just felt out of place and an unnecessary to me. The writing was good though and this was an easy read. I’m looking forward to watching the movie.

I listened to Ready Player One by Ernest Cline on audiobook. I want to start by saying that I really loved Wil Wheaton as a narrator. He was the perfect choice for this book, and if I was only rating based on him I would have given 5 stars.

Ready Player One tells a story set in 2045 when reality is an ugly place. Wade Watts is a teenager who spends more time logged into the OASIS, a virtual reality utopia, rather than in the real world. He even attends high school in the OASIS. Wade has devoted his life to find a hidden egg that the creator left before he passed away. Throughout the book, there are different challenges to get to the egg all based on 1980's pop culture. For someone who grew up in the 80's this book was so nostalgic for me. There are so many references to video games, movies, and music from this decade that it totally brought me back. The book was fun and well written. It actually made a dystopian world seem like a much more fun place than I assume it really is.

For me, there were some parts that were a little long and drawn out which is why I gave 4 out of 5 stars. This is not the normal type of book that I read though so keep that in mind. I'm definitely looking for Ready Player One, #2 to come out once Ernest Cline is finished writing it. Hopefully Wil Wheaton will narrate that one as well.

I really wanted to love this book because I really enjoyed The Woman in Cabin 10, but I just couldn’t get into this one. I listened to it on audio CD which maybe was the issue, but I just didn’t love any of the characters. I found myself yelling at them wondering why they were doing what they were doing. I also felt like this book was way too long. There were so many times it could have ended, but it just kept going.

If you haven’t read this yet, read it! It’s such a powerful story and done so well. I listened to it on audible and Bahni Turpin is an amazing narrator. I’m looking forward to listening to more books she narrates.

Libby Jones, who was adopted when she was a baby, has just turned 25 and is contacted by a solicitor in regards to an inheritance she has coming to her from her birth parents. This inheritance is a mansion in Chelsea, England, but when she gets there she wonders if this house can lead her to the story of her birth parents. All she knows is from a newspaper article stating that her parents died in some sort of cult, suicide pact and she was discovered in the house. She also had two older siblings, Henry and Lucy, who were never found once the authorities were alerted about the strange goings on at the mansion in Chelsea.

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell is told from three different perspectives; Libby, Henry, and Lucy, and goes from modern day to memories of what it was like growing up in that house with another family moving in and basically taking over. It has ghost story vibes, but I wouldn’t necessarily consider it a ghost story except for the characters being haunted by the ghosts of their past. There are definitely some creepy moments, but those moments made me so intrigued to read more.

This is the second book I’ve read by Lisa Jewell. I definitely like her writing style, however, I felt that this book was a bit confusing at the beginning. It was hard to keep up with who was who and what was going on. Once I figured things out though, I didn’t want to put the book down so I recommend sticking with it if you feel the same way when starting the book. I literally read more than half of it yesterday because I needed to know how it would end. There are some good twists and surprises throughout that keep you wanting more.

If you like thrillers, you’ll definitely want to pick up The Family Upstairs when it releases on November 5th.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I listened to the audio book which I'm glad I did. I'm confused how this would be written as an actual book especially because it sounded more like a script than a book. The concept was interesting though. It just wasn't my favorite story.